Fighting for a greener future

Apr 3 2008 by Claire Rees, Rhymney Valley Express

IF you had driven over Merthyr Common on Tuesday you would have witnessed quite a sight.

Around 40 eco-protesters descended on the usually quiet area of land, except for all that digging of course, set up base outside the main entrance of Ffos-y-Fran and declared they were staying there.

Who were they?

Were they one of the familiar local groups of residents who had been fighting the open cast mine for several years?

The silver-haired troupe of deservedly angry people who were terrified their lives were going to be changed forever by the arrival of machines ripping 10 million tonnes of coal from the ground in close proximity to their homes?

Recognisable faces whether on the Civic Centre steps to those at the High Court or parading a coffin through the centre of town?

No, this was a group of people who perhaps had never heard of Merthyr Tydfil until the passionate Ffos-y-Fran debate began.

They were a group of young people, mainly students, living miles away from the town yet touched by a story of a group of local men and women fighting against a 17-year scheme that has changed Merthyr’s landscape and divided a population.

This week’s protest by The Coal Hole group could never be described as a show of nimby-ism and that is why it received more attention.

Just this week Wales was accused of housing some of the biggest culprits when it comes to complaining – “not in my back yard”.

Yet these were impartial individuals worried about their environment and the affects of carbon dioxide emissions on their planet, and the planet of their children and grandchildren, our children and grandchildren.

So can we blame them for halting work at Wales’s biggest open cast scheme?

The protest seems to be over, for now, but campaigners told us yesterday the fight was far from over.

We live in a country that is proud of its peaceful protests – the situation in Tibet only shows us we should thankful of that.

Yes, Miller Argent employ some of our most skilled workers and we must remember they too have the right to work.

Just as The Coal Hole group too have a right to protest.